Something She Couldn't See
by LiLiKun18
Summary: Sometimes Riza wanted to be able to look out and see the world that he wanted to make. A collection of Oneshots from Roy and Riza's childhood. Implied Royai.
1. First Encounter

The boy gulped nervously as he stared at the door. He looked down at himself and readjusted his shirt for the fifth time that day. He slowly worked up the nerve to grab the knocker and bang loudly. He winced when he heard it echo.

He waited, once again trying to appear mature and capable even though he was young. Suddenly the door opened.

It was a little blonde girl. "Hello?"

The boy's eyes widened in fear and his body snapped into an erect position. "Uh...h-hi..." He stammered. "I-I'm looking for the alchemist who lives here..."

The girl looked at him calmly. "You want to see my father?"

"Y-Yes!" The boy said a little to loudly. "I-I wanted to know if he'd be interested in taking me on as an apprentice." The statement came out sounding very rehearsed, (like he had practiced in in the mirror the night before) and his voice would trail off and become quieter every time he spoke.

The girl stared at him skeptically. He was a tall gangly boy with awkwardly cut black hair. His dark eyes were wide, and overall he looked frightened.

"Yeah sure..." She tried to say kindly. "Just wait right there." she turned and ran inside, leaving the poor boy to sit on the porch and twiddle his thumbs.

"Papa?" She called. "Papa there's a boy here to see you." she knocked on the door to her father's study. He was knelt over a number of drawings scribbling furiously.

"Can it wait Riza?" He asked desperately. "I'm in the middle of a break through here."

Riza blinked. "He says he wants you to take him on as an apprentice."

"Not right now, this is important dear." He exclaimed. "Tell him to come in and wait."

Riza sighed and decided to do as she was told. She wished her father would be more hospitable though, he could've at least come out and said hello to the boy.

Riza opened the door and found the boy was now sitting on the steps staring at nothing.

"You can come in." She called.

"Huh?" The boy looked over. Suddenly he was up scattering to the door. "Sorry, sorry." He apologized rubbing the back of his head.

"Why are you sorry?" She asked.

"Uh...no reason, sorry." He stammered.

Riza was sure she had never seen such a nervous boy in her entire life."Well come on in." she gestured leading him through the door. He shuffled after her, doing his best to keep from fidgeting.

The two took a seat in the kitchen. "My dad's a little busy at the moment," Riza explained, "So you're going to have to wait for a little while, is that ok?"

"Yeah...that's fine." The boy sighed, relaxing a bit' more.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Riza asked.

"N-no I'm fine."

It was awkwardly quiet for a moment as the two observed each other.

"Hey I know you," Riza realized. The sudden break in silence caused the boy to jump. "Your name's Roy right? You live closer into the city."

Roy looked surprised and nodded. "Have we met before?"

"Not personally I don't think" Riza smiled, "but I remember seeing you a few times when me and my father would go into town."

Roy gulped a bit'. "Sorry but I don't know you're name yet."

"Oh sorry, it's Riza."

"Right, Riza." Roy repeated.

"Why are you so nervous?" Riza asked. "You look like you're expecting me to bite you or something."

Roy fidgeted a little. "S-sorry, I've just been worrying about this for a while. I don't want to screw this up."

"You mean an apprenticeship?"

"Yeah."

The two were quiet again, but Riza noticed Roy was still fidgeting.

"You can calm down," Riza laughed. "You're fine."

"Huh? Oh! S-sorry."

"Stop apologizing. I told you, you're fine."

"Oh s-sorry, I mean...urghh!" Roy but a hand on his head. "S-sorry, I can't help it. My Aunt she gets mad at me for this kind of stuff too."

"I'm not mad at you." Riza reassured.

"R-right..." Roy sighed. "Sorry."

Riza laughed. Roy went red. "H-Hey don't laugh at me." he stammered.

"Sorry." Riza gave an embarrassed smile "It's just a little funny how tense you are right now."

Roy looked a little insulted now. "Well sorry." He tried to say with as much spite as he could, though it came out sounding like another apology.

Riza smiled. "Don't worry, my dad's been looking for an apprentice, and you're a nice guy so he'll train you."

Roy looked up and seemed to look a great deal more hopeful after that statement. "S-so is you're dad nice?"

"Yeah, he likes helping people." Riza smiled. "By the way that reminds me," she realized. "Why do you want to be an alchemist."

Roy's dark eyes suddenly seemed to focus a bit more. He looked at the window like he was seeing something Riza couldn't. "I-I want to be able to have power, so I can protect people, and make the world better." he explained, sounding very serious as he did so. He clenched his hands into fists and his eyebrows inadvertently shifted into a determined position. "I'm going to become a good man, and help other people." he said.

Riza's eyes opened in surprise. Only moments ago he had been shaking in fear with barely any confidence in himself, but what he had just said, it had been so clear so absolute. It was like he already knew his own destiny and had no doubt in it, like he was stating a simple fact.

That was the first time Riza had been impressed by him.

* * *

A/N: Just so you know, Roy is about 16 here, and Riza is 15.


	2. First Transmutation

In years to come, Roy Mustang would be noted as one of the most effective alchemists in the military to have when it came to combat. His flame alchemy was a secret only he possessed, and it was swift, powerful and deadly. Very few could go up against the flame alchemist and live to tell the tale.

However, the truth of the matter was, that flame alchemy was the only form of alchemy Roy Mustang had ever been truly successful at.

"You drew the diagram wrong." Berthold Hawkeye sighed, after Roy had continuously pressed his hands on a circle waiting for a reaction.

"What? Where?" Roy exclaimed. He looked at the example his master had drawn for him, and then back at his own version.

Hawkeye knelt down over the circle. "You're missing the seven pointed star in the lines." He explained as he drew over the version correcting the error. Berthold stood up and gave Roy a stern look.

"You need to be able to copy each and every aspect of the circle swiftly and precisely."

Roy flinched at the harshness in his master's tone. "Right, I'll try harder sir."

Hawkeye stared at the boy a moment longer before handing him a stack of papers.

"Practice each of these tonight until you can do all of them by heart in under thirty seconds."

"Yes sir." Roy answered obediently. Internally however, he felt a gloomy darkness descend over him when he thought about memorizing everyone of the circles. It looked like he was going to be coming home late again. He waited until his master left the room to release a heavy sigh.

"Alright let's see…" He grumbled as he picked up the first circle on the sheet. It didn't look overly complicated. It was a pentagon with a few different lines here and there. Roy picked up his pen and began copying it down on his own sheet of paper. His pressed his hands down once he had finished.

"Why isn't anything happening?" He wondered. He picked up the circle and looked again.

"You want lunch?"

Roy's sudden jump was high enough to get himself knocked out of his chair. Riza raised an eyebrow. "Calm down it's just me."

"Hi…" Roy mumbled picking himself off the floor and re-gathering his circles.

"It's getting late, do you want lunch?" Riza asked again.

"No that's ok." Roy sighed. "I need to finish this." Riza watched as Roy placed his hands on the paper and tried to get a reaction.

"Are you an alchemist?" He asked her absentmindedly as he began re-copying the circle.

"No, it's more of my dad's line of work." Riza explained. She watched Roy place his palms on the paper again and try once more.

"Here I think there's a line missing right here." Riza explained. She pointed to Roy's paper.

Roy grabbed the example and looked over it again, then back at the circle. "Oh you're right." He realized. He re-drew the circle and pressed his hands down again.

This time, to Roy's astonishment the circle sparked a little. "I-I think I got a reaction." He stuttered happily, showing Riza his achievement.

"Here try it again." She suggested, pulling out more paper.

This time Roy came up with a strategy to work from the inside out so as not to miss any lines. Riza proof checked his circle to make sure everything was in place.

"Ok here it goes." Roy pressed the circle and a few sparks sputtered up from the paper. It was definitely a reaction, but not a full on transmutation. Roy concentrated as hard as he could and tried to circulate all of his energy into the circle.

Suddenly there was a loud bang that shook the house and caused a couple outside to stop and look for the source of the noise.

"What happened?" Berthold Hawkeye shouted as he came running out of his study. He stopped when he saw a black cloud of smoke emulating from the living room. He narrowed his eyes and heaved a tremendous sigh before heading in. Riza stood there looking very shocked and ash all over her face. Roy looked equally surprised. The sleeves on his shirt were burnt and a few patches of his eyebrows were missing.

"I-I got a reaction master…" He stammered fearfully.

"I can see that Roy."

It was quiet for a moment, as neither Riza nor Roy could find anything adequate to say.

"How about we take a break from the training for today?" Hawkeye suggested flatly.

"Sorry master." Roy squeaked.

* * *

A/N: Since it is never specified exactly where Riza lived as a child I decided to put her a few miles outside of central. So it's basically like a smaller closer Risembool you're picturing here. Roy Mustang isn't living there, but he spends must of his time training there. Also if you are wondering, it is an actual fact that Roy really can't do much alchemy besides the flame attacks his master came up with. Which is why everyone says he is useless. XD


	3. First Impressions

Happy Thanksgiving guys! Sorry this one took so long.

* * *

Roy was on his third week of training. After the incident with the exploding transmutation circle, Hawkeye had decided to keep him on the basics of alchemy for a while before he actually began transmuting. In other words Roy was confined to sitting in the living room with a book titled "Alchemy for Beginners," reciting the alchemic breakdown of things like paper, or floor boards.

Riza usually took it upon herself to go in and keep him company while he was studying. It was in this way that she got to know the boy better.

It turned out his father had been an alchemist, and a fairly good one at that. Roy had, had the unfortunate misconception that alchemy could be inherited, thus his interest in the art. However, the awful truth was, that Roy utterly talentless when it came to alchemy.

"I wonder if there's hydrogen in paper…" Roy mused absentmindedly as he rested the book on top of his head.

"I don't think so…" Riza said. She placed a sandwich next to him for lunch.

"Maybe ammonia?" He tried.

"I don't think that's right either." Riza rolled her eyes. Was it really that hard to find the alchemic breakdown of something like paper?

She also noticed was how much he hated books and reading.

"As an alchemist you have to study a lot," Riza explained as the two went through the books on her father's shelf. "My dad is always reading something and working on different kinds of theories."

Roy frowned. "I thought alchemy would be more like physical training." He picked out a thick research novel with lots of tiny handwriting, and began flipping through it.

Riza glanced at him. "It is a science you know, you can't expect there not to be research behind it."

Roy stared at the book blankly. "Any chance Master Hawkeye has something with more pictures in it?"

The best Riza could produce was a book filled with nothing but pictures of transmutation circles, and a children's story about an alchemist her mother had read to her when she was small. The children's story immediately became Roy's primary research source.

He could also be very nervous around people, as he had demonstrated on the day of their meeting. He became more comfortable with Riza as time went on, but he was still terrified of her father.

"Roy!" Hawkeye shouted.

Roy jumped and swiveled around to face his master.

"Y-Yes sir?" Roy sputtered.

"Were you sleeping just now?" Hawkeye asked with a raised eyebrow.

"S-sorry sir." Roy stated as his eyes drooped in shame.

"Have you not been sleeping well Roy?"

"No sir." Roy said.

Hawkeye stared at him for a moment. "If you don't have the energy to do your work you shouldn't bother showing up to learn."

"I'm sorry" Roy said. "It won't happen again."

"See to that." Hawkeye sighed before wandering back into his study.

Riza peeked in the room. "If you want to sleep some more you can have me stand guard and warn you if he's coming."

"It's ok, I need to focus on this." Roy looked disdainfully at the stack of papers.

"You know he's not mad at you." Riza tried to explain comfortingly. Roy stared glumly at the floor.

"It's ok…" he sniffed. "I can take care of myself."

Riza highly doubted that statement. Roy was about as capable as a three year old, and even less independent.

"You lost your quill again?" Riza exclaimed.

"It was right here."

"Did you check under the desk."

"Yeah."

"What about behind your ear."

Roy frowned and checked. "How did I not notice that it was there?"

Riza sighed. Sometimes Roy could be a real airhead.

That being said, there were moments where Roy showed he had a strange kind of potential. A good example would be the time where Roy expressed his dream of using alchemy to protect people, but it was more then that. Whenever injustice seemed to cross his path he would take on a new air of solemnity.

"What's with all the bandages?" Riza asked as Roy came in one morning, his right arm wound in a freshly wrapped cloth, and a large purple welt on his forehead.

"Some idiot was terrorizing a cat in the alley by my house." Roy said quietly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Riza gasped. "You got beat up trying to help that cat?"

Roy went a little red. "Not exactly…"

Riza listened as Roy explained how he had heard someone outside throwing bottles at the poor animal, but had not had the nerve to go out and fend off the man himself. He had waited until he was sure the man was gone, then raced outside to rescue the cat. Unfortunately for Roy, the cat had been scared out of his mind and when he felt Roy's hands scoop him up…

"So he clawed your arm to shreds?" Riza was close to laughing at this point. Roy was beet red.

"It was my own fault…" He stammered, nervously yanking on his bandages. "If I'd gotten out there sooner it would've been fine."

Riza smiled warmly and ceased chuckling. "It was a nice thing to do," She said. "Even if you couldn't help it completely."

But there were times, even Riza couldn't sympathize with Roy.

"You don't really want to join the military do you?" Riza asked in a hushed voice. The two were sitting at the kitchen table again.

"If my dad hears you saying stuff like that he'll reject you as a student." Riza warned.

Roy glanced around nervously for a moment to make sure his master wasn't listening in. He then turned back to Riza.

"If I could get a state certification, I could get a lot of power in the military I could re-shape the nation."

Riza frowned. "State alchemists don't care about anyone but themselves. They hurt people and my dad says that they don't respect the laws alchemy." She narrowed her eyes and stared at the cup of tea she had clasped in her hands. " You shouldn't want to become one."

Roy stared at her blankly. "That's not true. State Alchemists exist to help the people right?"

Riza furrowed her brow. "Well that's what they say, but in truth-"

"If I can gain enough military power I could change the way the military works and make it better." Roy explained, waving his fork around to demonstrate his point.

Riza stared at him in bewilderment.

"Just focus on learning alchemy for now," she said. "If you show up in the military and make your transmutation circle explode there's no way they'd accept you." Roy's blank expression suddenly looked embarrassed, and Riza chuckled at him.

"Oh can it..." he muttered, lowering his gaze to food.


	4. First Memory

Eleven Years Earlier

Roy Mustang was crouched on the stairs of his aunt's bar, poking a line of ants with a stick. The streets of Central were busy that morning, and he watched idly as people hurried from place to place.

His aunt had banished him to the front porch after telling the boy he needed some fresh air. The boy had confined himself to his room ever since he had come to stay with the woman, and she had quite frankly had enough.

"Stop moping around and go out and enjoy this nice day!" She had told him. "It's time you went and met some other children in the neighbor hood!"

She had said it so fiercely Roy had been unable to object, despite how badly he didn't want to go out. He wanted to go back inside and sleep, or stare at his bedroom wall for all he cared. Instead he was out here with a tiny army of insects who were now swerving to avoid his stick.

A small group of children stared at Roy from across the street, quietly whispering among themselves.

"So he's the boy?"

"Uh huh, he lives with that old Madame who run's the bar."

"He looks so sad."

"Well you'd be sad too, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah…poor guy…"

Roy could hear them whispering about him, but concentrated instead on squishing the ants into oblivion. It didn't bother Roy that they were talking about him. There were much better things to be upset about.

In the last two weeks the boy's life had taken a rather terrible turn, and all he had wanted was for the nightmare to slowly disintegrate. To just fade away and leave him empty. There was a dark feeling inside of Roy that he couldn't even begin to understand. But he didn't want to understand it. He just wanted it gone, out of his life forever, never to haunt him again. So he had closed himself off, and kept his mind blank and cold. In Roy's own reasoning, if he didn't think he, wouldn't feel, and that was the best healing that could be offered.

The group of children had now lost interest in Roy and ran down the street kicking a ball and squealing with delight.

Roy stared at the ants, and watched as he crushed each one individually. They would squirm a little, and then curl up with a final shutter. Roy's dark eyes narrowed.

"That's not a very nice thing to do." Roy's stick halted, and the little boy looked up. Standing there was a very tiny girl; with blonde hair cut so short she resembled a boy. She blinked at Roy and knelt down beside him. "You should be nicer to the aunts." She said, "They're not hurting you, they're just minding their own business." Roy glanced at her with a pair of dark eyes.

"It's not like anyone wants to die." He muttered. The girl stared at him blankly, then at the ants, then back at Roy.

"I heard what those other kids were saying, I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Roy asked, his irritation growing. "It's not like you had anything to do with it."

"Well neither did the ants." The girl said with a very big huff. "You should be nicer to them. You could protect them if you wanted to."

Roy pouted. "Quit bugging me," he said.

She crossed her arms and glared at him, before sticking her nose in the air and marching off. Roy stuck his tongue out at her as she left, and she returned the gesture.

Roy turned and glared at the ants. A few of them had lifted up the bodies of their fellow comrades and were now carrying them towards their anthill. Roy glared.

"_You could protect them if you wanted to…"_

Roy closed his eyes and grumbled angrily, before throwing the stick into a bush and getting up to go back inside. He glanced at the anthill one more time, before walking inside and slamming the door behind him.

Roy slowly opened his eyes, trying to collect his bearings.

"Did I fall asleep again?" he said groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He gazed around the Hawkeye's living room and stared at the alchemy notes that were below him. As he woke up more, the contents of his dream became clearer.

"I see," he said. "That was the day I met her…"

The day after the ant event, Madame Christmas went outside to retrieve the paper. To her surprise, she noticed something on the porch that hadn't been there before. A large paper sign had been taped to the lower half of the building, it read,_ "Ants, Do Not Step!" _in big bold letters. The handwriting was very messy, mostly due to the fact it was written in crayon. The word "Step" had also been spelled incorrectly.

Madame Christmas smirked a little at that, already guessing where the sign had come from. She collected the paper, and went back inside, leaving a small chunk of her morning bagel by the anthill.

* * *

I liked this one, even though I know it's a little cliche. I didn't mean to go all Fruits Basket on you guys but I felt I needed a little bit of Chibi Roy and Riza.

Read and Review please, I need to know I'm doing well.


	5. First Realization

A/N: Man guys, I am sorry this took so long. I have been super busy lately seeing as how the holidays are approaching. I'm planning on a christmas Omake that may or may not happen. Hopefully it will. I'm going to apologize in advance for all the errors that are most definitely in here. I am a terrible editor and I miss a bunch of stuff.

One more thing. As an explanation for Roy and Riza's character traits at the moment, this is what I imagined they be like as kids. They only got the traits we all know and love (such as Roy's womanizer traits, and Riza's scary traits) after they joined the military.

Thanks again for the morale support.

-Lili

* * *

Riza observed the contents of the kitchen cabinet, a dark scowl on her face. It appeared her father had been so busy he'd forgotten to buy food…again. Riza understood her father was busy, but he was always running to town for alchemy books and whatever chemicals he could find for his many experiments. Was it really that hard to stop by the grocery store and pick up some food? Riza heaved a sigh, realizing her morning was going to be spent shopping. She flipped open one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out a pen and a scrap piece of paper.

"Let's see, eggs, bread, milk…" she listed each item then pocketed the scrap piece.

"Dad! I'm going out for a bit." She called across the house.

She heard a muffled reply that sounded vaguely like "Be back soon." She decided to take that as a sign of consent as she opened the door to leave.

* * *

Riza didn't head into town very often. When she was smaller she'd only been once or twice with her father. She had never gone to the Central school with other children, nor ventured very far from her small house. As she had gotten older she had gained enough knowledge to be able to venture to the general store on her own.

"Hello," the lady at the cashier said cheerfully. "Is there anything I can help you with."

Riza smiled, "No I should be alright." She gazed at the aisles lined with food, and tried to decide where to start.

"Lets see…" she said under her breath. "I need some breakfast stuff, so I might want to start over there…" she made her way to the very back wall and began shifting through cartons of eggs. A bell rang announcing someone else had entered the store. In the back of Riza's mind she heard the cashier lady greet the new visitor.

She continued to glance through the different rows of food, trying to decide which prices were the best when she felt someone's presence behind her.

"What're you doing here?" Roy asked, a look of surprise on his face.

Riza blinked. She wasn't expecting to see Roy here, but this was near where he lived. "Hi Roy." She greeted. "We ran out of groceries, so I went out to get some."

Roy frowned. "It's weird seeing you outside of Master Hawkeye's house," he said. Suddenly he began stuttering. "Uh, n-not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just kind of strange to see you here, you know? 'Cause we've never really seen each other outside of training."

Riza smiled. "Yeah, it is kind of weird isn't it? I don't really come to town that often do I?"

Roy seemed to calm down a little, and gave her a sheepish smile. "Yeah, right." He agreed.

There was a very awkward silence, and the two sat quietly.

"Do you know If they have any cheaper eggs then this brand here?" Riza asked.

"Um…I think this brand costs less." Roy answered, pointing to a different carton.

"Ah, yes that works." Riza said. "Thanks."

More silence followed.

"Roy? Where did you run off to?" A boisterous female voice called.

Roy suddenly looked panicked. "Uh-Coming Madame," he called back. Riza curiously glanced in the direction of the voice.

"Who's that?" She asked.

"My aunt…" Roy whispered back. Just then a woman rounded the corner and into Riza's line of vision.

She was a plump robust woman with layer upon layer of makeup pasted to her face. She had an air of severity surrounding her, and her dark eyes matched with Roy's own. Riza noticed however that her eyes seemed to be far more calm and focused, where Roy's were cloudier and vague as to wear they were actually looking.

"Hello there." The woman smiled at Riza. "Are you a friend of Roy's?"

"Uh…yes." Riza smiled in return. "My father is his Alchemy master, so we spend some time together."

"Oh you're Berthold Hawkeyes daughter?" the Madame smiled. "He's a very good man, used to stop by my bar back in the old days. Tell him I said hello."

"I'll make sure." Riza said, deciding she liked the boisterous woman.

The woman gave Riza a warm smile. "It's been a long time since Roys taken any interest in a girl." She said. "He always is so shy. It's a good thing he friends with such a pretty girl like you, maybe he'll man up a little."

Roy's face had gone completely red in a matter of seconds and his eyes were locked on the floor. His arms were folded stiffly across his chest.

"Maybe we should go now Madame." He tried quietly, his voice cracking a little. He tugged her hand a little in the direction of the door.

The woman pursed her lips and gave Roy a severe look.

"Where are you're manners? You know how you should bid a lady farewell."

Roy immediately began to back pedal. "Oh, yes, sorry." He gave Riza a very flustered glance before bowing his head a little and muttering something incomprehensible.

"Speak up." The Madame said firmly.

"Excuse us but we must be going now." Roy stammered. Riza had to cover her mouth to keep from snickering at the poor boy's embarrassment. The Madame seemed to be satisfied with the boy's awkward farewell for she didn't say anything else.

"Please feel free to come and visit anytime." She smiled at Riza and took her leave.

Roy lingered a moment longer. "She always makes me do that." He whined. He then scowled at Riza when her giggling finally reached his ears. "It's not funny!"

"I'll see you tomorrow Roy." She smiled. Roy sighed and gave her a nod before racing after his aunt.

Riza smiled at him as he went. She had heard him grumble about his aunt before, but the woman seemed like a very good caretaker for him. She could keep him in line rather well from what Riza could tell. With these warm thoughts in mind she picked out the last of her groceries and began her own trip home.

* * *

Her father seemed surprised when she returned from her outing.

"I could've gotten those groceries for you," he explained. "I was going to head into town today to pick up an order."

"You would've forgotten again," Riza teased as she put her groceries away.

Hawkeye gave his daughter an exasperated look and began aiding her with the food, a partial apology for forgetting to shop in the first place.

"I saw Roy and his aunt at the store." She said. "She told me to say hello to you."

"Do I know his aunt?" he asked looking up.

"Well she knew you, she's a Madame, and she runs a bar…" Riza used the details to help jog her father's memory.

Realization flooded into is eyes. "Madame Christmas is that boy's aunt?"

"Yes?" Riza felt confused. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No," Hawkeye said. "I just didn't realize that he was her nephew."

"What do you mean?" Riza asked.

Hawkeye looked over at his daughter and ruffled her short hair, a somber expression on his face.

"If I remember correctly Madame Christmas's brother served as a state alchemist for some odd years." He said. "He and his wife died in some kind of accident a little while back. Madame Christmas took care of their child after their death." Hawkeye looked down at Riza who was staring at him wide eyed.

"All this time I never realized I was training the son of a state alchemist." He said, placing a hand under his chin. "Not a very happy past is it?" he asked Riza.

Riza nodded and gripped her father's hand tightly. He smiled at her and continued to pet the hair on her head. "The world isn't always a happy place, one day you're going to find that out for yourself. Until then promise me you'll do what you can to enjoy the life you've been given."

"Mm…" Riza responded. She'd known for a long time now the life could be cruel and unforgiving, and that there were many people who had suffered pain she could never fathom. But as she stood there imagining Roy's nervous stuttering, she realized for the first time how real the shattered and painful world was.


	6. First Snowman

Christmas Omake

* * *

"Hey," Riza lightly tapped Roy on the back with her finger, waking him from his slumber.

"Huh?" Roy groaned. He looked up at her.

"It's snowing out, you want to go and build a snowman with me?"

Roy blinked. "What? Snowmen?"

Riza face went a little pink. "It's just, It's been a few years since it snowed last and I was wondering if you wanted to help me."

Roy frowned. "I don't think I've ever built a snowman before."

Riza's eyes widened in surprise. "You're kidding right? You've never built a snowman?"

"Snows not really my thing." Roy yawned turning back to his alchemy work.

Riza smiled. "Come on!" she said, yanking Roy by his collar and dragging him towards the door.

"Hey! I've got work to do!" Roy yelled.

"No you don't. If I leave you to finish that you'll just fall asleep again."

Roy opened his mouth to protest but found he didn't really have a response to that.

"Put your coat on." Riza instructed as she tossed him a pair of mittens.

Roy's frown deepened when he caught the mittens.

"Do they have to be pink?"

"We have matching earmuffs if you like them." Riza smirked.

Roy grumbled as he pulled his winter wear on.

* * *

"Alright," Riza started. "First thing we need to do is make the base."

"How do we do that?" Roy asked.

"Well, we take a snowball and roll it until it gets big enough."

Roy looked down and picked up a wad of snow. He awkwardly tried to press it into a ball, but the snow crumpled and fell apart.

"Here let me do it." Riza expertly patted the snow down until it formed a perfect ball. The two slowly rolled it around until it was as high as their waists.

"Good," Riza smiled. "Now we just need to do it again, except this time on a smaller scale."

"How do we lift it up on the snowman?" Roy asked.

"Carefully," Riza answered, flattening the base so the torso would fit lay nicely.

After forming the snowball and making it larger, Roy and Riza gently lifted it up and placed it on the base.

"Good, and finally we add the head." Riza said as she formed a final snowball and rolled it around in the snow. She placed it on top, and the snowman's body was complete.

"Now what?" Roy asked.

"We give it a face." Riza told him.

"Are we going to use a carrot or something?"

"No, I have some pieces of coal my dad didn't need." She handed Roy the pieces and he carefully made a face. They also looked around and found some sticks to use as arms."

"He should have a dog too." Roy said.

"What?" Riza looked over at him in surprise.

Roy bent over and pulled up a large pile of snow. After some shaping, it vaguely resembled the shape of a small puppy.

"Here," Riza handed him the left over coal. Roy took it and gave the puppy a small face.

"Aww, it looks cute." Riza smiled, at Roy's small snow creature. "Are you going to name it?"

"It's a pile of snow," Roy said. "Why would I name it."

"Aw come on Roy, look at how sweet it looks, you should name it."

"Ok then…" Roy sighed. "It should have a really cool name, how about Black Hayate?"

Riza frowned. "That's a scary name to give a snow puppy."

"No," Roy said. "It's cool, and intense sounding."

Riza laughed. "What bad taste in names, I'd never name a puppy something like that."

"Hey!" Roy frowned. "Don't go making fun that name. It commands power. This puppy will be respected because of its name."

"I'm sure." Riza said sarcastically. "Now lets go inside before it gets too cold."

"Ok, Ok." Roy sighed. The two walked inside leaving the snowman and it's guard dog to stand quietly in the snow.

* * *

Happy Holidays Folks

By the way, I'm suffering from writers block at the moment, so if any of you have ideas I'd love to hear them.


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